No. 24 Elon Tops No. 9 Wake Forest In Men's Soccer Action

ELON, N.C. - Elon's Daniel Lovitz scored just 29 seconds into the second half, as the 24th-ranked Phoenix held off No. 9 Wake Forest 1-0 at Rudd Field on Tuesday evening.

The Demon Deacons fall to 3-2-0 on the season, while Elon remains undefeated to begin the year at 5-0-1.

Wake Forest doubled Elon in shots by a 12-6 margin. The Deacs also took six corner kicks compared to five for the Phoenix. Sean Okoli had four total shots to lead the way, while Andy Lubahn had three. Both Okoli and Luca Gimenez each put two of their shots on goal.

Neither team had much going early on, but Lubahn and Chris Duvall were able take shots in the eighth and ninth minutes. Lubahn's sailed high, and Duvall's was saved to set up a corner kick that was cleared by Elon.

Wake Forest has the best opportunity of the first half in the 30th minute, but Phoenix keeper Nathan Dean was up to the challenge. Okoli beat a couple defenders and had his shot saved. Gimenez collected the rebound on the left side of the box, but Dean also saved his attempt to keep the score 0-0, where it would stand at the half.

Lovitz broke the tie just after the break from the left side of the box on assists by Caue Da Silva and Matt Wescoe.

Wake Forest possessed the ball for the majority of the second half and outshot Elon 7-4 during the second 45 minutes. Three of those shots by the Demon Deacons came in the last nine minutes of the game.

Gimenez came the closest to equalizing on a free kick from just outside the box in the 85th minute. His attempt cleared the wall and appeared to be heading into the upper right corner, but Dean came up big again with a diving save for Elon.

Wake Forest will get back into conference play this weekend when the team travels to play Pitt on Saturday at 7 p.m. This will mark the first-ever meeting between the Demon Deacons and the Panthers.